Lonely Boy
by todo-mahem
Summary: -- What does it mean to be lonely? -- SasuNaru ShonenAi/Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1: Just who is lonely?

**Lonely Boy **

by todo-mahem

**A/N:** Hobey Ho, here we go with another story! Aiming for more chapters than any I've done before (good luck with that!).

Dedicated to the lovely S-I-L-E-N-C-E IS B-E-A-U-T-Y who I've been pm'ing for a while now.  
They've made me feel like writing, just by talking about writing!

- Konoha Gakuen like setting.  
- They're all about 16 or 17.  
- OOC for safety's sake, don't complain.  
- Possible/probably Yaoi.  
- Definate Shonen ai.  
- NaruSasu/SasuNaru Pairing!!!!! You've been warned.

Rated T for future chapters.

_Disclaimer; I do nawt own Naruto. I do own this story though._

_---_

Naruto slammed his head once more onto the desk, wincing slightly at the pain it caused but enjoying it none the less. He heard Shikamaru sigh with annoyance beside him and grinned with satisfaction.

Raising his head again Naruto prepared himself for the next assault but was surprisingly stopped when Shikamaru's hand flicked out, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking it back.

"OUCH!" Naruto yelled, causing those who hadn't already been watching the blonde while he banged his head on the desk to look up and stare.

"Let go!" Naruto whined.

Slowly letting go of the blonde's hair, Shikamaru went back to staring with a lacklustre expression towards the front of the room.

Glaring at the boy with annoyance Naruto picked up his pen from beside his book and proceeded to draw swirls all over Shikamaru's arm, who chose to ignore him.

Truth be told, Naruto was bored. As was most of the class since their teacher was somewhat, uncharacteristically late.

Even Sasuke Uchiha was starting to drum his fingers against his desk in annoyance.

At the front of the room Sakura, Ino and Tenten, watched warily by Hinata were applying their make-up, a daily routine, Neji had his head in a book, and Rock Lee beside him was staring in horror at the rip he had somehow managed to acquire in his shockingly green jumper.

Kiba, on the other side of Naruto was shooting spit balls at the white board. Shino and Choji beside him were watching.

Quite generally, no one was amused.

Except maybe Naruto, who'd just drawn an incredibly dirty picture on Shikamaru's arm.

Everyone in the room looked up as the door banged open and Kakashi, their teacher, barged in, knocking over the skeleton by the door in the process. Indicating for Ino to pick it up he marched over to his desk, dumping a pile of papers onto it before turning towards the class.

"Morning class, I'd say I'm sorry that I'm late but that would be a lie because I was at the climax of the book and let me tell you," He raised his eyebrows suggestively towards the girls in the front row. "It was VERY good."

A few of the boys laughed while the girls, Hinata especially, blushed. Though a few glares were received, and ignored.

"Ok," Kakashi leaned back on his desk, fixing up the white mask across his face as he did. "Not one to delay on a good thing, I'm going to be giving you this terms assignment, putting you into your groups and then sending you to the library to work on them so I can read."

More glares, once again, ignored.

"Emotions are a wonderful thing. They inspire many things, courage, revenge, love, hate, loneliness, you name it, they're behind it. In history, they've caused wars, deaths, life and they still continue to do so. But do you, really understand them?"

Kakashi paused dramatically before continuing.

"For your assignment, I'm going to give you an emotion, and as a group I'd like you to research that emotion through history, try to understand it, relate to it." Reaching behind him, Kakashi picked up a folder and opened it, looking down at the list. "The rest will be explained in your task sheet which you can pick up as you leave with your group."

"So without further prolonging the anticipation...or dread," Almost all of the students leaned forward anxiously at that point. "Here are the groups!"

From the back of the room Naruto watched as names were called, hoping that he'd be with at least one of his friends.

To his horror though, this happened:

Hinata, Shino and Kiba.  
Choji, Shikamaru and Ino.  
Lee, Neji and Tenten.

Which left...

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto.

Naruto blanched.

Sasuke glared.

Sakura was stuck somewhere between horror and ecstasy.

With an angry scowl Naruto turned to glare at Sasuke, the boy who had hated him since they first met, way back in the first grade. Sasuke whole heartedly returned the look, though became distracted when Sakura bounced towards him, huge smile on her face. At this point, he directed his glare towards her.

Groaning Naruto turned back to his desk and proceeded to bang his head against the surface. This time, Shikamaru didn't stop him.

---

When the two had met, barely old enough to comprehend their hate let alone express it, Naruto and Sasuke had defied such rules of society and proceeded to wage a war.

Thinking back, Naruto can conceed that it was probably, maybe his fault. Maybe.

'_Hi.' Naruto had said to the little boy with dark hair and equally dark eyes. He was sitting in in the corner of the room, staring around at the other children with a somewhat nervous look._

_Shocked at the voice, Sasuke had looked up into the light blue eyes before him._

_After a moment he replied. 'Hello.'_

_Sitting down beside him, Naruto casually reached out and grabbed the other boys hand and held it in his lap._

_'What are you doing?' Sasuke asked, but didn't break the contact._

_'You looked lonely.' Naruto replied. 'Iruka says that when I'm lonely, go to him and he'll be with me and hold my hand.'_

_Naruto grinned at Sasuke who stared back, surprised for the most part._

_'I'm not lonely.' Sasuke said after he'd recovered._

_'If you say so.' Naruto smiled again._

_Wrenching his hand from the other boys, Sasuke stood up and walked away, an angry glare on his face._

_Baffled, Naruto watched him go._

_'Then why did you look lonely...' He had mused to himself._

From that point on, Sasuke had hated Naruto with such eagerness that Naruto could do nothing more than respond with his own hatred. After the years, the reasons were deserted.

The hate just 'was'.

Naruto couldn't help but feel that it was pointless. On more than one occassion he'd tried, somewhat, to make nice with Sasuke, to no avail though.

Glancing back at Sasuke as they walked to the library, and earning a heated glare for it, Naruto couldn't help but think that some how, still written on his face was the same expression as before, only now it was concealed.

---

"Loneliness!?" Naruto blanched at Sakura. "THAT is our emotion?"

With a condesending glance at Naruto, the girl sighed.

"Yes, Naruto. Now get over it and start looking for books."

Glaring at the girls back as she marched away, Naruto slumped into a chair at table accross from Sasuke.

"How the hell am I meant to know what means?" Naruto whined to himself.

Sasuke snorted a low laugh.

Giving him an incredulous look, Naruto leaned forward, slamming his hand on the table in the proccess.

Sasuke wasn't moved.

"What's your problem, Teme?" Naruto growled.

"You, obviously." Sasuke hissed back at him.

The two glared at each other for a moment more before huffing and staring away from each other.

After a while Sasuke spoke, causing Naruto to jump slightly.

"You should know what it means." He said, still not looking at Naruto.

Frowning slightly, Naruto asked, "What?"

Sighing, Sasuke turned to face Naruto. "Lonliness, Dobe."

Ignorning Naruto's glare, Sasuke continued.

"Think about it, you've got no one, no family, friends who hardly put up with you, let alone 'like' you. Heck, the girl you like won't even consider you." Sasuke said this all as if it wasn't anything unusual, a calm observation. "Even people you've never met look at you as if your rubbish, trash even. You of all people should know what it means."

Naruto didn't move. He couldn't.

In his mind the words kept repeating themselves, bashing against his mind, making themselves heard.

"I'm...lonely?" Naruto murmered.

Rolling his eyes Sasuke stood from his seat and walked away, leaving Naruto by himself.

Naruto felt his stomach clench, a warm sting in his eyes as his body began to shake.

Taking in a few deep breaths the blonde placed his head against the table and tried to calm himself, watching the scenery outside the window.

Nothing could clear the words from his head.

_'I'm lonely.'_ Echoed through his mind.

---

Sasuke leaned against the bookshelf, covering his mouth with his hands and clenching his eyes shut.

He tried to remove the image of Naruto's broken face, but it remained there alongside the heavy guilt.

'He deserved it.' Sasuke whispered to himself.

But no consolation came with the words.

---

xxTo be Continuedxx

---

**A/N:** Please Review!!!!!!! *pelts with cookies of love*


	2. Chapter 2: The definition of Loneliness

**Lonely Boy**

_by todo-mahem_**  
**

Chapter 2: The definition of Loneliness.

---

"Lonely – 'alone': lacking companions or companionship; the state of being alone in solitary isolation…"

Sakura glanced up at Naruto who sat across from her as he read aloud the definition. His tone was low and his voiced seemed to drone, but somehow under that there was a small sadness that the boy had been carrying with him lately.

"An emotional state in which a person experiences a powerful feeling of emptiness and isolation; an instance of being lonely." There it was again, the girl mused to herself. The slight down turn of his mouth, the creeping sadness in his eyes.

Naruto sighed quietly to himself before grabbing his pen and copying down the definitions from the book into his notes.

Sasuke, who was sitting beside Sakura across from the blonde, ignored Naruto completely.

For the past two days the two hadn't spoken a word to each other. They'd spent yesterday's lunch hour in the library and half an hour after school comparing notes, an understandably hard task when they wouldn't look at each other, let alone co-operate.

With an annoyed huff Sakura stood from the table, collecting her books and dumping them into her bag before turning to look at the two boys who were staring at her questioningly.

"I refuse to do all the work on this assignment by myself." Sakura stated. "I don't really care what happened between you two in the past, or what's happening now, but you will have to at least be civil or this group won't last very long."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but Sakura cut him off with a wave of her hand and a sharp look.

"So, get over yourselves and work it out." Turning away from the two Sakura marched out of the library.

It had been more than a year since the girl had confessed to Sasuke her feelings; she no longer felt the overwhelming need to be sickeningly sweet to the boy. More so, she'd found a compulsion to become friends with him. And friends were honest with each other.

So she left the two to sort things out, not wanting to hang around for the argument that would surely follow.

---

'_Awkward…' _Naruto mused silently.

The air between them was chokingly thick with tension and to a certain degree, embarrassment.

Sasuke sat with his arms crossed glaringly out of the window while Naruto had his head resting on the desk facing the other way.

Neither of them broke the silence.

Twenty minutes later, still stuck in their stale mate, the bell rang, causing Naruto to jump while Sasuke blinked rapidly. Leaning back Naruto stretched his arms before grinning.

There was something comforting about the silence that had just passed.

It wasn't something he was used to, being a generally chatty person. Silence didn't suit him. It wasn't his colour.

But just sitting with Sasuke… after a while it just felt comfortable and to a certain degree; funny.

Laughing quietly Naruto glanced at Sasuke who was watching him with a bemused expression.

Sakura's outburst flickering across his mind Naruto laughed a little louder placing his hand over his face and rubbing his tired eyes.

He didn't notice as Sasuke smirked, looking away to hide his expression.

With a loud clatter Naruto stood, leaving his chair sitting out from the desk he picked up his books before turning to Sasuke.

"Nice chatting with you, teme."

Before Sasuke could retort, Naruto turned and walked from the room.

There was a slight warmth which was moving up from his feet and settling in his stomach. A bubbly happiness.

He knew it was ridiculous to feel this way as nothing was solved between him and Sasuke.

Though there was no way the silly grin on Naruto's face was going anywhere.

---

Sasuke watched the blonde walk cockily from the library, a spring in his step.

What… What was that? What just happened?

Nothing, nothing had happened. And yet…

Sasuke felt lighter.

After a moment the dark haired boy opened his book, flipping to a page full of notes. Going to the next clean page he slowly wrote down words that were eager to escape from his mind.

'_If you share in loneliness, are you still lonely?'_

With a puzzled frown at what he had written, Sasuke snapped shut the book before cramming it into his bag and leaving the library.

---

Gym.

A chance to prove your worth against your peers. A chance for innocent rivalry, challenging fun.

For Naruto, gym was more than a game.

It was something closer to a battle. A fierce battle.

Balls and bats became weapons, bars to jump over were like challenging distances and he'd imagine himself flying through trees instead of jumping hurdles.

His opponent, his enemy; Sasuke Uchiha.

From day one the two had discovered a slight outlet for their hostility.

A place where they were, on some level, the closest they had ever been.

To outsiders they were almost friends.

Walking up to the starting line Naruto grinned at Sasuke, who smirked back.

Today was a relay, and the two for once weren't competing against each other.

It certainly wasn't hard to turn it into a contest though. Catching Sasuke's glance Naruto confirmed the underlying message with a slight nod.

Naruto watched as Sasuke jogged up to his spot at the marker before getting into line alongside the others, clasping the baton in his hand.

The whistle sounded.

Naruto ran.

The familiar surge with the challenge, each step after another he struggled to move past the others, arm outstretched, reaching for Sasuke.

Closer and closer, they're eyes met.

Just for a second.

And Naruto had a thought.

'_Everything; just to be beside Sasuke.' _

Time slowed as the gap shortened until they were so close Naruto could feel Sasuke's breath beside him. The slight touch of their hands as the baton was passed.

As quickly as he was there, Sasuke was gone.

Naruto stood in his place, watching Sasuke run towards the next marker. His breath heaving, his body sweating.

Naruto watched as Sasuke ran from him.

It felt, a little lonely.

---

"You're doing it wrong, Naruto." Sakura spoke, causing the blonde to jump slightly in his chair, glancing up at her.

With an irritated sigh the girl reached across the table and grabbed the boy's book and scribbling out the apparently wrong math's problem before writing the correct formula beside it.

They were in their last class for the day, maths. Sakura was seated across from Naruto while they did free study on their work.

"Oh, thanks Sakura." Naruto mumbled, taking back his book and staring at the work.

After a moment Naruto looked back over his shoulder towards the vacant chair where Sasuke should be.

The other boy hadn't shown and for some reason that bothered Naruto.

With a huff Naruto turned back around, catching Sakura's eye.

Raising her eyebrow at him Naruto looked back at his work shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Sakura didn't say a word.

---

Sasuke was sitting with his back against a tree at the back of the school grounds, headphones in his ears, music unnecessarily loud.

His book, open before him held only a sentence. A simple question.

Picking up his pen Sasuke scrawled beneath it,

'_How do you know if you're lonely?'_

After a moment, another question followed.

'_If you find a way to defend against it, even if it doesn't make sense, should you take it?' _

With a final thought, one more line was written.

Sasuke rested his head against the tree, closing his eyes.

---

Naruto stood behind Sasuke, watching as the boy, lost in his mind and his music sat against the tree.

As soon as the bell rang Naruto had escaped the classroom, heading towards the tree at the back of the school that he'd usually climb in while waiting for Iruka to finish his meetings.

With a small smile Naruto quietly dumped his bag before approaching the tree.

As silently as possible, the blonde hoisted himself up onto the lowest branch, thankful that Sasuke had chosen the harder side to climb up to lean against. Moving around the side so that he sat above Sasuke, Naruto settled into a nook between to limbs.

Closing his eyes Naruto shifted his shoulders until he was comfortable, his breath slowing.

The effects of the boring math's class catching up, Naruto dozed off.

---

Sasuke stretched where he sat; glancing at his watch he noticed that it was almost time for his ride to pick him up.

At the slight pang in his neck Sasuke leaned to stretch his neck, glimpsing out of the corner of his eyes, quite to his shock, a blonde hair boy seated in the tree above him.

Jumping to his feet Sasuke turned and started at Naruto.

The boy was obviously asleep, his chest rising in falling in rhythm. Sasuke wondered if he had even noticed that he was there to begin with.

Why the heck was the blonde in the tree anyway?

How could you fall asleep in such an uncomfortable position?

Naruto looked incredibly content though, with his head leaning slightly to the side, a slight sliver of drool escaping his lips. His eyes fluttered lightly and his foot twitched from where it hung over the ground.

Rolling his eyes Sasuke couldn't help but smile.

"What an idiot."

Still watching the blonde Sasuke reached down and grabbed his bag, fingers looping through the straps as he hoisted it onto his shoulders.

With a last glance at Naruto and a curiously warm feeling in his stomach Sasuke walked away.

He didn't notice the open book left beside the tree, their words left waiting to be read. Questions waiting to be answered.

---

Not for the first time, Naruto fell out of the tree.

With a thump the blonde rolled onto his back grasping at his arm which stung as it had been just used as a pillow.

"Goddamit." Naruto muttered, opening and closing his hand, making sure it wasn't broken.

Shifting slightly Naruto heard the rustle of paper as it crinkles beneath his feet. Staring at the notebook Naruto reached for it, eyes flickering over the writing on the page.

The final sentence drew his attention and Naruto's breath caught at the words.

'_Why do I feel lonely whenever he's not around?'_

---

**A/N:** ………….. hahahahaha. It's 3am and I have no idea what I was doing with this chapter, it clawed my brains out, made my eyes bleed and then proceeded to attack me with yo' mamma jokes. Only on Tuesdays. Sigh.


	3. Chapter 3: Mr Too Good To Be My Friend

**Lonely Boy**

_By todo-mahem_

Chapter 3: Mr too good to be my friend.

'_If you share in loneliness, are you still lonely?'_

'_How do you know if you're lonely?'_

'_If you find a way to defend against it, even if it doesn't make sense, should you take it?'_

'_Why do I feel lonely whenever he's not around?'_

It was obviously Sasuke's notebook.

Naruto recognised it from the time spent together in the library. Sasuke had been sitting under the tree. It was obviously Sasuke's.

So why did it have _that _written inside?

Sighing loudly Naruto flopped back on his bed, wincing as he thumped the bed head in the process. Groaning he curled himself into a ball lying on his side.

None of this made sense! Was the _'he'_ Sasuke mentioned, Naruto? Well that at least kind of made sense, but at the same time it made about as much sense as clothed fruit!

'_I mean, its Sasuke...'_

Sasuke's not lonely... is he?

Did Sasuke really feel the same way Naruto did when they were together? The feeling that they weren't alone... That everything was ok.

With a frustrated yell which echoed around the messy room Naruto picked up his pen from the table beside his bed and slowly scrawled a reply to the questions.

Sasuke walked quietly into the empty classroom, moving towards his desk.

He was glad the room was empty so nobody could witness as Sasuke yawned sleepily and rubbed his eyes. Sasuke let his shoulders slump and his feet drag as he went.

Normally he'd rather die than let his classmates see him so worn down.

Truth be told Sasuke hadn't slept at all the night before.

He'd stayed awake tossing and turning trying to figure out what was wrong. He had a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something. Something important.

And then there was the Naruto problem which Sasuke couldn't sum up.

Lately everything was just a confusing mess and Sasuke didn't like that at all.

As he reached his desk Sasuke dropped his bag beside it, pulling out his chair and slumping into it before unceremoniously slamming his head against the surface.

Blinking through the pain Sasuke stared at the notebook beneath his eyes.

His notebook.

Not in his bag like he assumed it was.

But on his desk.

Frowning slightly to himself Sasuke sat up and reached for the book. Flicking slowly through the pages Sasuke came to the page he had last written in.

It was a mix of shock and horror that washed over Sasuke first.

The scratchy words beneath his own, the scribble that summed up his feelings written messily beneath his own writing.

Second, came elation.

Sasuke's stomach did a slight tumble at the thought of Naruto agonising over his words and thinking of a reply. The blonde actually putting effort into something that was Sasuke's and Sasuke's alone.

Lastly, the anger. The white hot blinding anger.

With an snarl Sasuke stormed form the classroom, racing down the hall towards the courtyard where he knew the boy would be. The notebook scrunched in his hands Sasuke could hardly see through his rage.

All he wanted was to rip Naruto apart and Sasuke wouldn't stop until he did.

Turning the corner Sasuke entered the courtyard which was filled with students waiting for classes to start, grouped about and chatting happily with they're friends.

Target sighted, Sasuke thought as he spotted Naruto in the far corner chatting with Kiba.

Marching straight across the grass, ignoring the greetings and startled cries of his classmates Sasuke headed straight towards the bright haired boy who hadn't yet noticed his impending doom.

Luckily Kiba did notice, nudging Naruto in the side and indicating towards the oncoming black storm cloud that was now above Sasuke's head.

"S-Sasuke..." Naruto stammered as Sasuke reached the two. "Hey, what's up?"

Naruto then proceeded to shrink back, trying unsuccessfully to hide from the enraged glare behind Kiba, who had the sense to abandon ship by running as fast as he could to the other side of the courtyard which was now silent as all eyes were turned to Naruto and Sasuke.

"What's up?" Sasuke hissed. Shoving his crumpled notebook forward Sasuke noticed Naruto's eyes widening with comprehension. "This is what's up, moron."

"But, hey Sasuke I just returned it to you..." Naruto began but stopped when Sasuke pegged the notebook at him, exclaiming loudly when it hit him square in the face. "Ouch..."

"You _stole_ my property, and wrote _that _in it, how... How DARE you!" Sasuke's voice had escalated with his anger to the point where he was now yelling at the blonde.

Everyone in the vicinity was entirely shocked, never seeing the Uchiha boy so emotional.

"No, no Sasuke," Naruto said. "I didn't steal it, you left it at the tree. And what's wrong with what I wrote?"

Sasuke paused, taken aback.

Wrong with it? What was wrong with it... well, there wasn't anything wrong with it exactly... Wait, why was Sasuke so upset?

When Sasuke didn't reply Naruto continued. "So Sasuke, why don't we just kiss and make up, everyone's watching, this is kind of embarrassing... I don't even know why you're angry..."

That was it.

That did it.

_Kiss and make up?_

_KISS AND MAKE UP!_

_WAS HE JOKING ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT AT A TIME LIKE THIS!_

Sasuke couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. His anger built and built reaching a height he'd never before experienced.

Before Naruto could react Sasuke lunged forward slamming his fist squarely into the right side of Naruto's face.

Exclamations of shock were heard around the courtyard but Sasuke couldn't hear them. He stared at Naruto's face, his watering eyes and confused and pained expression.

He watched as slowly tears began to creep from the other boy's eyes, spilling down his face.

Sasuke immediately regretted everything. This wasn't what he wanted.

"Why do you hate me, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was hushed, barely audible above the surrounding chatter. Sasuke was the only one able to hear.

"I-I don't hate you... you know..." Naruto went on. "I know how you feel... so well that it hurts."

Sasuke looked up, meeting Naruto's eyes. Neither looked away.

After a moment Sasuke spoke, barely a whisper. "Nothing bothers you... your always having fun with your friends and... and..."

Naruto snorted to himself.

"That's a lie, _you_ bother me."

Sasuke stared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto gently shook his head.

"It's always you who gets to me, Sasuke." Naruto's voice broke slightly as he tried to wipe away his tears before everyone noticed that he was crying from more than the pain in his face.

Standing from his seat Naruto threw his bag over his shoulder and walked towards Sasuke, pushing the tattered notebook into the boy's hands.

Leaning in close to Sasuke's face, so close that they're breaths mingled gently between them, Naruto spoke.

"If it's what you want, I'll leave you alone then..."

Startled Sasuke turned and watched Naruto walk across the courtyard and away into the hall, barely registering that the bell was ringing.

Slowly the students streamed out, leaving Sasuke where he stood, alone in the silence.

Sasuke was glad that they had all left. Relieved even as his legs folded beneath him and he sat with a thump on the moist grass.

_What just happened? _

_If it's what I want...?_

_Alone?_

_Why would I want to be alone? _

_Why would Naruto leave him? Abandon him? Why would he want that?_

_When all he wanted... all he... wanted..._

_Was...Naruto? _

Kakashi had his feet up on his desk, book in his hands and a grin on his permanently covered face.

Low chuckles could be heard through the door by passerby's as the man flicked through the pages of the incredibly perverted novel.

Ignoring the bell as it rang Kakashi continued with his story. Just gotta finish this chapter...

He also ignored the loud rushing footsteps that approached his door, two sets he thought, and proceeded to ignore the fact that two people barged into his office and hurried themselves up to his desk.

He didn't even have to look up to see who it was. The composed, borderline white hot raged student with the bright pink hair was obviously Sakura, on a tirade that Kakashi was sure he had no chance of avoiding.

The other was Iruka, a fellow teacher at the school and close personal friend. Kakashi could tell by the soft atmosphere that followed the man, accompanied by an ecstatic panic attack that usually told you that Naruto had done something wrong and the man was freaking out.

Sighing Kakashi slowly looked up meeting the two sets of eyes with weary ones.

"And to what, do I owe the pleasure?" Kakashi asked languidly.

Huffing in her spot Sakura stomped her foot before leaning forward with her hands on the desk.

"Sir, we're getting nowhere with our assignment to begin with because those two boneheads can't look at each other let alone co-operate, and now, just now, I know because I was there, they were fighting!" Sakura paused to take a large breath before continuing. "Well I suppose it wasn't exactly a fight, because Sasuke did the yelling and the hitting while Naruto looked well, moronic and confused... and this is obviously going to make it worse between them and Sir this is your fault you need to talk to them, make them sort this out its ridiculous!"

Kakashi frowned. Fighting? That's an interesting development. Something must have happened to spur up that dust...

With a decisive nod Kakashi turned from the girl and stared at Iruka.

"And you...?" He questioned.

Blushing slightly Iruka explained. "Well Sakura told me about the fight so I decided to come along, see I'm worried about Naruto he seems so down lately whenever I stop by his apartment, and he never wants to come over for dinner so I don't get to talk to him much and now this I really don't know what's going on. Sakura says he's working on an assignment with Sasuke Uchiha? They've never gotten along..." Iruka mused to himself while Kakashi absentmindedly scratched his forehead. "Anyway, you need to do something because if this escalates Naruto could get hurt and I won't have that!"

Silence followed the man's speech and both sets of eyes focused on Kakashi, awaiting response.

Leaning back in his chair Kakashi shrugged.

"Do something about it you say?" Kakashi asked. "I don't think I should, things seem to be going accordingly in my books!"

"What?" Sakura blanched while Iruka turned slightly pale.

"Kakashi..." Iruka began but was cut off with a wave of the man's hand.

"It seems the two are immersing themselves into the given emotion wonderfully, so let's just watch the show hey? You have no idea how much fun I'm having observing the 'love' emotion group..." Kakashi trailed off with a low chuckle.

A feeling of dread washed over Kakashi as he snapped back to reality and faced the wrath of Sakura. She was visibly shaking with anger, giving the man her best glare.

"This... this is a _game_ to you?" She spat. "YOU don't have to be in a group with those two Neanderthals!" Kakashi winced as she slammed her fist against the table.

"Now Sakura..."

"No Sir," Sakura interrupted. "If that's the way it is I won't have any part in it. They can work the assignment out on their own and I'll do it on my own because the way they're going is just straight to a fail." And with that the pink haired girl turned tail and marched out of the room, slamming the door as she went.

Kakashi signed and rubbed his eyes tiredly before standing in his seat and picking up a stack of books on the edge of his desk.

"Better get to class then..." Kakashi mused glancing sorrowfully towards his unfinished novel.

"Uh... Yeah me too..." Iruka said quietly before giving Kakashi a quick look and leaving the room quietly.

Grinning to himself Kakashi whistled a peppy tune as he set off from his office towards his first class.

Naruto lay across the branch of the tree listening to the sounds around him. His eyes were closed, one because of the large swelling which was only just going down, the other because he was genuinely comfortable.

With a loud sigh the boy pondered the day's main event.

Sasuke had been so angry, Naruto just couldn't understand.

Never had he seen him so murderous, so full of hate. So full of hatred for Naruto.

It hurt.

_He hates me..._

Frowning Naruto ran a hand through his hair. _What am I meant to do now?_

Naruto didn't hear the footsteps approaching, and he didn't hear the thump as Sasuke dumped his bag beside the tree.

He did however hear the soft voice as it floated up at him from down below.

"Naruto..."

With a startled yell Naruto turned quickly, almost falling out of the tree, barely securing himself a hold and staying up.

"S-Sasuke?" Naruto answered as he sat up on the branch, looking down at the other boy.

Returning is look Sasuke winced slightly upon noticing the obviously swollen cheek on Naruto.

"Yeah... So..." Sasuke muttered.

"What did you say?" Naruto queried, tipping his head stupidly to the side.

"Tsk." Sasuke muttered again before speaking up. "I'm sorry about this morning... and everything. I don't know why I got so angry, I just did. When I read... when I read what you wrote I didn't know what to think so I'm sorry, ok?"

Sasuke pouted slightly before looking down at his feet, breaking the eye contact.

Naruto grinned.

"Sure, it's ok."

Sasuke glared. "No it's not..."

Swinging around Naruto stretched his legs beneath him and jumped to the ground with a loud thud. Righting himself the boy turned to Sasuke and smiled.

"I said it's ok, don't worry about it." Naruto leant forward smiling up into Sasuke's face causing the darker haired boy to stumble back surprised.

"Ah... Well, ok then." Sasuke concurred.

Naruto grinned again before slumping down against the tree, legs stretched before him, his arms crossed behind his head.

After a moment, Sasuke sat down beside him, resting his head against his knees.

Silence passed between them. The same comforting silence that had graced them that day in the library.

" Naruto..." Sasuke said suddenly, breaking the quiet.

"Yeah?"

"I... I don't hate you."

Naruto turned and looked at Sasuke who refused to meet his gaze. A moment passed and Naruto smiled warmly.

"Yeah."

_'If you share in loneliness, are you still lonely?'_

_'How do you know if you're lonely?'_

_'If you find a way to defend against it, even if it doesn't make sense, should you take it?'_

_'Why do I feel lonely whenever he's not around?'_

_**'If It's lonely to be without you, I think I'd rather be beside you. It's lonely to be alone...' -Naruto.**_

**A/N:** Well I hope this wasn't as much fail as I've convinced myself it is. I shouldn't be writing at the moment, too sick and stressed to do it properly... anywhoo, I'll be moving on Thursday so I'll have time after that to keep writing since I won't have internet for at least 10 days (What a bust!). More chapters will escape, and I'm happy to report I've actually planned this out! Though I'll admit my plans contain ridiculous phrases like 'lol kissu tiem' and 'exit stage dramaqueen'... I'm tired ok! It's 2.30am OK!

Sorry for not updating earlier... lost my passion for writing for a moment there... Strangely, I think it was the Supernatural FanFics I randomly started reading that brought me back... I should be shot.


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